The repellent Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, who long ago abandoned any pretense of improving academic achievement in public education, was a key speaker at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “No Kings” protest on Saturday.
Bouncing up and down spastically as if she were on a trampoline only she could see, Weingarten launched into a familiar litany of platitudes: “You are the community to this president’s chaos and together, we build a future of opportunity and justice for all. Hope over fear, aspiration over anger, the promise of America for each and every American. That is what we are fighting for today.”
Odd that the president of the second-largest teachers’ labor union in America would preside over a political rally? According to school choice activist Corey DeAngelis, “teachers’ unions are more invested in political activism than in prioritizing education.”
DeAngelis told The New York Post, “Their actions expose them as little more than an arm of the Democratic Party, pushing a radical agenda that puts taxpayers on the hook for funding the K-12 education of illegal immigrants.”
“Imagine if Randi Weingarten fought half as hard to improve public education. Maybe then more than a quarter of American kids would be proficient in math,” he added.
DeAngelis is right. Unfortunately, neither Weingarten nor the union she leads is all that concerned with childhood education. They’re far more focused on gaining and maintaining power for the Democratic Party, knowing full well the benefits, financial and otherwise, that come with it.
That’s why the AFT played such a major role in organizing and funding the No Kings protests. In fact, they provided an entire webpage of volunteer opportunities populated with related events.
All unions prefer having a Democratic president in the White House because it makes it easier for them to operate their grift, and the AFT is no exception.
Union brass were particularly outraged when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to shut down the Department of Education to return control over education to the states and local governments in March.
Along with the National Education Association, America’s largest teachers’ union, the AFT sued to block Trump’s dismantling of the agency.
They cited a lengthy list of reasons why dismantling the DOE was supposedly a terrible idea. At the top of the list was the claim that staff cuts would “negatively impact students, educators, and school districts nationwide.” The union also warned of potential “harm to vulnerable students, including those from low-income families, English learners, and students with disabilities, who rely on the department’s support and resources.”
But this — and everything else on their list — was little more than a smokescreen.
The New York Post explained why calls to close the DOE “directly threatened both unions’ [NEA and AFT] bottom lines.”
Every increase in Washington’s education spending helps union causes.For so many problems with the American education system, unions will claim that the trouble is a teacher shortage, then lobby lawmakers for more taxpayer cash as a solution.Historically, that’s been the pattern ever since the Education Department was established in 1980: Per-student spending consistently increases, school officials hire more staff — and the problems persist.During lean economic times that disrupt the job market, such as the 2009 financial downturn or the COVID-19 pandemic, unions can decry any potential cuts to education as threats to student success.Yet no matter how many staffers are hired, achievement gaps remain.Test scores in math and reading today are at or near historic lows.
The teachers’ unions are not merely opposing Donald Trump out of ideological disagreement or concern for education policy. Their motivations are deeply entwined with the broader political interests of the Democratic Party.
Simply put, when a Democrat occupies the White House, the machinery of government tends to operate in a way that benefits entrenched interests like the unions. Funding flows more freely, regulations tilt in their favor, and political influence becomes easier to wield.
However, when a Republican, particularly one as unorthodox and disruptive as Trump, takes office, that system seizes. The usual channels of influence become clogged, oversight increases, and the unions’ ability to shape national policy diminishes dramatically.
And no presidency has made that more evident than Trump’s. The mechanisms they’ve long relied on to maintain their power slowed to a crawl, and in some cases, stopped altogether.
That’s why their opposition is so intense. This is not merely political disagreement; it is institutional self-preservation. They are determined to remove the obstacle that threatens their standing and influence. And if that means discrediting, vilifying, and mobilizing against Trump by any means necessary, so be it. This fight is not about education for Democrats. It is about retaining control over the system that sustains them.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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